Canada just did something it has never done in the history of its men’s football program. On June 28, 2026, the co-host nation defeated South Africa 1-0 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, securing its first-ever knockout-stage victory at a FIFA World Cup and punching a ticket to the Round of 16.

The hero was Eustáquio, who found the net in the 90+2nd minute.

A historic night at SoFi Stadium

Canada has had its share of painful football moments. The men’s team qualified for the 1986 World Cup but went home without scoring a single goal. It took another 36 years just to get back to the tournament in 2022.

Now, in a newly expanded 48-team format, Canada is making the most of the opportunity.

Crypto’s growing footprint at the World Cup

Kraken was named the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026 around June 9, making it the first exchange-level agreement within FIFA’s sponsorship framework.

The tournament has also integrated Chainlink oracles into FIFA’s first official prediction market, allowing participants to interact with matches through tokenized predictions.

Notable tokens associated with the tournament include Chiliz (CHZ), World Cup Token (WCT), and Football World Community (FWC). There are no dedicated team-specific fan tokens for either Canada or South Africa.

What this means for crypto investors

Chiliz, which has built its entire business model around fan tokens for sports teams, stands to benefit from the ambient attention. CHZ has historically spiked during major tournaments as casual fans discover the concept of tokenized engagement.

The absence of Canada and South Africa fan tokens suggests that the fan token market is still concentrated around elite European clubs and hasn’t meaningfully expanded to national teams, especially those outside traditional football powerhouses.